garagemonk

Hello,

I just purchased a Lexus ES 350 F-Sport 2021 with 38,000Miles.
I noticed right away it pulls left, and dealer agreed to pay for alignment. Did alignment and the shop (Good Year) noted that the tires were unevenly warn. Front left 7/12, Front Right 8/12, Rear left 3/12, Rear Right 5/12.
Still pulls Left. So I put new Michelin Defender 2 tires and had them Road Force balanced front left 2, front right 6, rear left 8, rear right 9lbs.
Still pulls to the left, went back and got another alignment, still pulls left :/

Below are both alignment images. Any ideas? It's really annoying that i have to fight the car to keep going straight on the highway. It really wants to go left.
The tires are all 34psi cold and go up to 38psi after driving on the highway for a few minutes.
The pull is more noticeable when I'm going over 50mph


May 24, 2024 - First Alignment
June 11, 2024 - Second Alignment after new tires installed

ESh

The alignment is done nicely. First I would check if the front left tire has a frozen brake calliper of if the tire spins freely.

Wooky

Good idea, I was thinking that also. Have them jack up the front and see if that wheel drags when trying to free wheel it. I had a car that had the same issue and it drove me crazy. I had it aligned many times and even had them set it out of alignment to circumvent the pulling, Different shops, different tires. nothing helped and I just dealt with it.
Then I decided to have lowering springs installed.
They replaced the springs and aligned and Wham... it was fixed! It has not pulled any since. I do not know what was corrected, but maybe one of the springs was bad??
it was an older car, 1995 Mitsubishi 300gt which I still have and drive when I want that sporty drive.
I know that's not an answer, but that's my dealing with pulling. Good luck finding the problem. PLEASE post what was found when they find the problem.

ESh

I suppose one of the shocks were bent or there was a play on them.

garagemonk

Update:
- All the springs feel solid and no visible damage
- Took the caliper out and we were able to compress it with ease. Checked the pins and the driver side pin was not coming out as easily, so we removed it and added some lube. The boot was fine. Added lube on the other side pins.
- Spun the rear tires while car was on the lift in Neutral. they spin normally
- Spun the front tires and the passenger side didn't turn as much as the driver side but tech said that's because its a front wheel drive and transmission was probably holding that one but he didn't feel anything strange.

It's improved but still pulls :/

lexo98

iTrader: (2)

So they were able to get the alignment all in the green the first time but the second it was already off and they couldn’t get it in spec? Also, for the 2 tires that were not replaced have you rotated them side to side to see if the pull changes?
edit: sorry I thought it said you only replaced 2 tires.

LeX2K

Caster should not be out like that on the left hand side my guess is the car was bounced off a curb or similar.

garagemonk

First Alignment was on OLD worn out tires. Second one was after new tires installed, notice the changes were minor. Also could be machine and tires.
The new tires had a similar pull, that is why i went for alignment again. I drove on them for ~400 miles then went to do a Force Balance on them got them to bring them down to 2/6/8/8lb with force matching the tire the rim.

My guess is more the machine OR the Tires. Before the tires were severally worn Front Left 7/12, Front Right 5/12, Rear Left 2/32 and Rear Right 4/32. So the car itself was slightly slanted lol That could be why the first alignment could have been slightly off.
Front Caster on 5/24/2024 -> 5.2 / 4.8
Front Caster on 6/11/2024 -> 4.2 / 4.5

alextv

Try different alignment shop and tell them the problem and show them current specs. They might can go within specs at extreme end to correct pull. It is also strange a dealer sold a car with 3/32 tread on a tire. I have seen an instance where the only way to correct the problem is get rid of car.

garagemonk

Is there a place where I can find the Lexus Spec for Alignment? I'm thinking maybe the F-Sport has a different setup than regular ES because it's a different suspension. I do see that in both they don't specify F-Sport.

The dealer was Carmax so they don't have to change tires if they pass state inspection which they did (2/32 is inspection requirement) but I pushed and got 4 new tires.

ESh

You should check if the steering angle sensor shows 0° when the steering wheel is at the centre position.

alextv

The Lexus spec is on your alignment sheet. Look at the left and right number and anywhere in between is spec.

garagemonk

How do I do that? Can I find it on Techstream software?

I saw the sheet but I wonder if the F-Sport has a different alignment specs

Update: The car does not pull nearly as much. It looks like lubricating the pins have significantly helped. One thing I did notice is that the car wonders, if I point it left it doesn't really want to go back straight that quickly. Maybe it needs a toe in? Or maybe I'm used to directional tires.

ESh

Yes, you can find it under ABS/TRC/VSC.

NTH

Just a thought but could it be that the roads around you are more aggressively banked or crowned for drainage purposes, causing the pulling or drifting?